What are signs your cold domain reputation is damaged?

Reputation damage often shows in multiple signals before becoming critical.

Deliverability indicators:

• Declining delivery rates across campaigns
• Increasing bounce rates for valid addresses
• Messages landing in spam for seed tests
• Rate limiting or deferral errors appearing

Tool and platform signals:

• Gmail Postmaster Tools: Reputation showing low or bad
• Microsoft SNDS: Trap hits or complaint spikes
• Blocklist monitoring: New listings appearing
• Campaign metrics: Open and reply rates declining

Recipient behavior signals:

• Increased unsubscribe requests
• More negative or hostile replies
• Spam complaint feedback (if FBL enrolled)
• Recipients mentioning they found you in spam

Technical signals:

• SMTP error codes changing (more 4xx and 5xx)
• Specific rejection messages mentioning reputation
• Sending velocity restrictions imposed

Action required:

• Investigate immediately when signals appear
• Don't increase volume hoping to push through
• Reduce sending until cause identified
• Address root cause before resuming